Blue Jays: Five Underrated Players To Watch During Spring Training

C Riley Adams

The Jays backup catcher job is wide open.  I don’t see Alejandro Kirk making the opening day roster unless he can show that he is head and shoulders better than Danny Janson both offensively and defensively.  I don’t think Kirk is quite there yet defensively, and I think that the Jays’ management will want him to play every day in AAA instead of riding the pine at the big league level.

This leaves room for another catcher on the Jays roster and I think that Riley Adams may be able to claim that role.  Adams is one of the more underrated prospects in the Jays’ farm system as he is only ranked 23rd on their Top 30 according to MLB Pipeline.  Despite his ranking, Adams is one of the players who I heard got rave reviews from the alternate site, so I would expect to see him climb up the Jays’ Top 30 when Pipeline releases their updated rankings in a few weeks.

Adams has great power at the dish, and it’s the best in the Blue Jays farm system according to Baseball America.  He showed off this power in 2019, hitting 14 long balls across two different leagues in only 100 games.  Adams’ defence is developing and is one of the things he supposedly made major strides in at the alternate site.

Unless the Jays make a signing over the next couple of weeks, the backup catcher job is really between Adams and Reese McGuire.  With how bad McGuire was last season, I think that Adams has a great shot to make the team if he has a strong spring.

OF Josh Palacios

Josh Palacios is a recent 40 man roster addition.  The Blue Jays added Palacios to protect him from the Rule 5 draft earlier this offseason so that they can fully evaluate him during Spring Training.  Palacios is a ‘jack of all trades, master of none’, as he does many things well but doesn’t have an outstanding trait to hang his hat on.

This isn’t necessarily a bad thing for Palacios, as he projects as a fourth outfielder at the big level, and having a guy coming off your bench that can do a little bit of everything could be beneficial to a team.  Palacios will definitely have a shot to make the Blue Jays opening day roster, as they are probably going to want to carry an extra outfielder on their bench so they can have Teo, Springer, Grichuk and Gurriel Jr. all in the lineup at the same time.

Palacios will be competing with Derek Fisher and Jonathan Davis for this role.  Davis seems like he has the inside track because of his speed and defence, but if Palacios can show enough with his bat during the Spring, I think he has a real shot of beating him out.

What makes Palacios a really interesting guy to watch is that he may not be a Blue Jay after Spring Training.  The Jays have a full 40 man roster right now, so if they want to add someone like AJ Cole or Francisco Liriano to their active roster, someone is going to have to be DFA’d to make room.  Being 25 years old and not having a great minor league track record, slashing .266/.371/.416 in AA in 2019, Palacios could be the odd man out if he doesn’t show management enough in the spring.

We’ve seen this before with Dalton Pompey, where management kept him on the 40-man to protect him from the Rule 5 draft, but then DFA’d him the following spring because he didn’t show enough in camp and they needed the roster spot.  Palacios is definitely someone to watch out for because there is such a wide range of possible outcomes for him.  We could see him on the big league roster on opening day, or we could see him with a different organization.

SS Otto Lopez

Otto Lopez was an interesting player this offseason.  He became Rule 5 eligible as just a 21 year old, which is something you don’t normally see.  Because of this, the Jays were forced to add him to their 40-man roster, in order to protect him from the Rule 5 draft.

Lopez forced the Jays to add him to their 40-man because of his production in the minors.  In 2019, he hit .324 in 108 games in A ball at just 20 years old.  Lopez doesn’t bring a ton of power to the table, with his 40 power grade and only 14 home runs across 217 minor league games, but he is a guy who puts the bat on the ball and makes consistent contact, which is something that the Jays lack at the big league level.

Lopez also provides defensive versatility, which is something that this Blue Jays coaching staff loves.  He has primarily taken reps at shortstop, but has also played second, third, left field, centre field and right field during his time in the minors.  Being able to play so many positions definitely raises his value in the eyes of Blue Jays management and could help him reach the big leagues sooner rather than later.

Along with being an advanced hitter and having positional versatility, Lopez is also a plus runner too, swiping 41 bags in his 217 games played.

Lopez just turned 22 in October and hasn’t played past A ball so it’s unlikely that he will make the team right out of Spring Training.  He’ll get a shot to play during the spring and is someone who I would watch out for as a good camp from him could raise his chances of being a mid-season call up.

RHP Joey Murray

If you don’t know the name Joey Murray yet, he might be someone you want to get familiar with.  Murray is only the 28th ranked prospect in the Jays system, but I think that he is much better than his ranking might lead you to believe.  In 2019, as a 22 year old, Murray threw 137 ⅓ innings, posting a 2.75 ERA across three different levels, finishing at AA New Hampshire.  This is a very impressive season, not only statistically, but because he almost totalled a big league starters work load, logging nearly 140 innings.

This is a rarity in the minors, as you see guys like Nate Pearson who are coming to the big leagues and barely have100 innings under their belt, and need to have their workload managed because of it.  This won’t be a problem for Murray, who has already shown that he can handle the workload of a big league starter.

Murray won’t blow you away with his fastball as it sits in the upper 80’s, and it’s a huge reason why he is not a highly touted prospect.  Despite his lack of velocity, Murray makes up for it with deceptive arm action that makes his fastball “invisible” according to evaluators.  Because of his deceptive arm action, Murray was able to strike out 11.1 batters per nine innings in 2019 despite his lack of velo.

The Jays have a wealth of back end starters, so there’s a slim chance that Murray cracks the opening day roster.  Like Lopez, I think Murray is fully capable of having a great spring, which will boost his stock in the organization, making him a candidate for a mid-season call up.

 SS Richard Urena

The final player that I have on this list is one that Jays fans should be familiar with: Richard Urena.  Urena, a former Blue Jays farm hen was a highly touted prospect in their system back in the mid-10’s.  He was a former top 100 prospect that just couldn’t figure it out offensively at the big league level.

Urena showed flashes of his potential from time to time, but overall looked over matched by big league pitching.  He was eventually passed on the shortstop depth chart by Bo Bichette and was DFA’d, claimed by the O’s after the 2019 season.  Urena didn’t see any time at the big league level with Baltimore last season but the Jays front office must have seen something they liked from him, whether it was from the alternate site or during his time in the Dominican winter league, to bring him in.

The Jays are going to need a utility player on their roster this season.  Right now it seems like that job is going to go to Santiago Espinal, who was serviceable last season both at the dish and in the field.  Urena’s advantage over Espinal is that he brings more to the table as he’s a switch hitter, which could be super beneficial to a roster that is right hand dominant, and has plus speed that could be used as a weapon coming off the bench late in games.

Unless the Jays bring in another infielder, the utility job is definitely Espinal’s to lose, but if Urena can show that he is at least a competent hitter during the spring, his other tools may help him claim a roster spot.